Personal History Chauncy Harvey Cook

Chauncy Harvey Cook
Son of Milton Cook and Amanda Smith Step Father John Solomon Fullmer
Husband of Clarissa Curtis
Father to
            Joseph Alma Cook
            Emma Cook
            Chauncey Harvey Cook Jr.
           Amelia Cook
           Ray Curtis Cook
           Leroy Austin
          Marion Enox Cook
          Bertha Cook
          Dora Cook
          Laura D. Cook
          Junious F. Cook

Chauncy Harvey Cook - Personal History

I started typing this up and then was searching the internet for him and found someone had already done it for me. Thanks!! Chauncey Harvey Cook is my 3rd Great Grandpa

History of Chauncey Harvey Cook, 1^st

As told by Ray C. Cook, 11 June 1947 to Berl B. Cook

2^nd edition Copy by Christopher E. Putman 7 January, 2000

Chauncey Harvey Cook, a son of Milton Cook and Olive Amanda Smith, was born in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois on November 26, 1843. Very little is known about his father, Milton, but his mother was the daughter of Hawley Decker Smith and Martha Allen and they lived in New York state where Olive Amanda was born.

When his mother Olive was about Seventeen years old, she met a young man by the name of Milton Cook, who was a builder and contractor by trade, and they fell in love with each other. Olive’s mother Martha Allen and her stepfather, David Henry Orser, refused to let her marry Milton, because her stepfather wanted her to marry his son, Hyrum Orser by a former marriage. Milton and David Henry Orser were in the same trade and there was much competition and rivalry between them, which didn’t help matters any.

During a time when Olive’s parents were absent from their home on a visit to relatives in New York, she went with her sweetheart, Milton, to another town, where they were secretly married. Several Months later, When she discovered she was going to become a mother, She put on her wedding ring, which she kept hidden, and told her mother that she was married. Her mother and stepfather were very put out about her marriage and refused to let her see her husband. Her stepfather stopped all mail between Olive and her husband and they sent her to stay with friends.

Soon after her son, Chauncey, was born, Olive went to Nauvoo, Illinois, thinking that the man she loved, because she had received no word from him, had deserted her. Milton did seek her out, and found [her] hardworking at a hotel. He also found out that she was a member of the "hated" Mormons. In 1842, Milton, with the help of his two sisters, tried to get Olive to give up her religion, but she refused, so they separated, and she never heard from him again.

Some time after the separation of his parents, his mother Olive went to work for the John Solomon Fullmer family. It was at the time of the birth of the fourth daughter to John Solomon Fullmer and Mary Ann Price in May 1844. After working in the Fullmer home for about nine months, Olive was asked by Mary Ann Price Fullmer if she would consider becoming the second wife of John Solomon Fullmer. Later when John S. Fullmer asked her to become his wife, she consented and they were sealed in the Nauvoo temple on January 21, 1846.

The Saints were continually being persecuted and some time after the Prophet Joseph Smith was killed, the leaders of the Church realized they would soon have to leave Nauvoo. Their beloved temple was completed enough so they could do baptisms, endowments and sealings in it. Many received their endowments and then the time arrived that they had to leave Nauvoo. They began to leave in the dead of winter. Olive Amanda did not want her former husband to steal her son, Chauncey, so she wrapped him in a feather tick to hide him, and with the help of the other Saints, left Nauvoo. She and the Saints were forced to cross the Mississippi River in February 1846. She bid her husband goodbye and left him in Nauvoo, as John S. Fullmer was called by the church to see to the property in Nauvoo and to take care of church business. His first wife, Mary Ann Price, stayed with him.

Olive Amanda and her son stayed in Council Bluffs, living in a wagon for about two years. There, Chauncey’s half-sister, Mary Ann Fullmer, was born on October 25, 1846. This same year, the United States went to war with Mexico, and the Mormon Battalion was mustered in just south of Council Bluffs a few miles. Little Chauncey, his mother, and half-sister, went through much hardship during their stay in Council Bluffs. When his stepfather finished the call of the church to do work in Nauvoo, he left there in March 1848 and with his wife, Mary Ann, and his children, joined his wife, Olive and her two children in Council Bluffs.

His stepfather was made captain of ten in the Willard Richards Company, and he and his two wives and children left Council Bluffs on June 1, 1848. They arrived in Salt Lake City on October 19, 1848. Little Chauncey was about one month short of his fifth birthday upon their arrival in the valley.

His parents took him to live in the Sixth Ward in Salt Lake, and there a half-brother, James Dickens, was born April 30, 1849. The family then moved to Davis County, where his stepfather engaged in farming and politics, and was elected to the council as representative. He also served as postmaster. Two more half-brothers were born, one on November 25, 1850, named Joseph Leland Haywood, and the other named Albert Heber, born September 16, 1852.

In fall of 1852, his stepfather was called to serve a mission in England. This left his mother with her hands full, looking after a family with Chauncey only nine years old and one half-sister and three half-brothers, all ranging in ages from six to a littler baby. The other family of John S. Fullmer was all young, ranging from fourteen years and younger.

When his stepfather completed his mission, he returned home and moved his wife, Olive and family to [the] Utah valley where he began farming. A half-sister was born in Provo, Utah on September 15, 1856 named Olive Amanda. A half-brother was born in Spanish Fork, Utah on May 26, 1858 named Van Osden. Then two more half-brothers were born in Provo. One, named Edwin, was March 15, 1860. The other, named Alonso, was born March 17, 1862. Chauncey was baptized this same year on February 5, 1862.

As Chauncey grew in stature, being the eldest of the boys, he was given the responsibility of seeing that the work was done at home; however all the boys being quite young, liked to play and wrestle with the Indian boys. They also liked play and fought amongst themselves. The story is told that young Edward Fullmer had a piece of pork and asked Chauncey what to do with it. Chauncey was busy writing at the time and did not want to be bothered, so he told Edwin to throw out to the dogs. Edwin took him at his word and later when their folks [found out] about the ham, Edwin told them that Chauncey had told him to throw it to the dogs, So he had done that.

The work the boys had to do besides farming was haul firewood from the canyon with [an] ox team. They also used sagebrush for the fires to furnish heat and light in the cabin in which they lived. The cabin was equipped with a fireplace for that purpose. Many of the homes in those early days consisted of dugouts. They lived in a dugout during the early part of their lives.

About the time Chauncey was nearing his nineteenth birthday, his stepfather gave him a whipping for something that displeased him. Chauncey thought he was too old to be whipped and resented his stepfather whipping him, so he left home. He hired out to a man by the name of Dupont, who was in the freighting business. An ox team did the freighting. This took Chauncey into Montana in the fall of the year, and they got snowed in for the winter. They camped in a long, narrow valley through which ran a river. During the winter, they ran out of feed and had to chop down cottonwood trees to feed the oxen on the buds and limbs. They built a log cabin to live in during the winter. It was built in the narrow valley near the river and fastened together by rawhide strings from animal hides.

When spring came and the river ice began to break up, it caused an ice jam in the river, and water rose to about 15 feet. The water ran into the valley around their cabin and was about eight feet deep. Some of the men climbed upon the roof of the cabin to escape the flood and some of them made a run for higher ground. One man went to make a raft and the flood washed him away and they never saw him again. That filled the men with fear, so they decided to draw straws to see who would build a raft. They wanted a large one built and it fell to Chauncey to build it. The men got two drift logs and fastened them together so Chauncey could get across to the timber. When he got to the center of the stream, he found that the ice was giving away and a large body of water was rushing down upon him. He had to leave the logs and tried to jump from one block of ice to another. Then he jumped into the water and swam until he got across the river.

After he reached the riverbank, he looked the situation over and decided that he couldn’t stay there until the ice had all gone because he would starve to death without any food. He figured that he couldn’t get back across at that point because it was so wide. He knew he would either starve to death or the Indians would kill him if he stayed there, so he prayed to the Lord for help, and asked the Lord to forgive him for leaving home and his mother. He promised the Lord that he would not leave his mother again without helping her if the Lord would protect him and help him [return] home safely. After he finished praying, he climbed into a tree and looked at the river. He decided [that] he could get back across by jumping on the ice blocks and where he couldn’t jump on the ice he could swim.

By the time he crossed, he was about 35 miles downstream, because the current had carried him down the river in crossing both ways. It took him a few days to make the trip back up river, where he met some of the men who escaped the flood by fleeing to the hills. A dog sled company hauling supplies up the river had to unload some of their flour because they were too heavily loaded. The men who met Chauncey got this flour. As they hadn’t anything [to eat] for two days, they made a fire, made dough out the flour, and held it over the fire on a long stick to cook it. They had had very little to eat all winter, so the bread surely tasted good to them.

Chauncey and the men with him were gone from the cabin for three days. When they got back into the valley, the men at the cabin began to "hoop and holler" because they were so glad to see him and the others alive. They thought Chauncey had drowned in the river, and to show how happy they were to see him alive, they filled a cup of whiskey and offered it to him, and told him to sit down and tell them all about his escape from the flood. This freighting outfit was sent by the government to take food supplies to the Indians, so they sent a man on horseback to get help to salvage their supplies.

Chauncey was gone for so long on that freighting trip that his folks thought he was dead. Upon Chauncey’s return home, he found his mother living in a dugout. She was expecting her last child by John S. Fullmer. Still feeling badly against his stepfather, Chauncey told hi mother that he would take care of her and pay for the birth of her child if she would leave her husband and quit living with him. His mother told him that she wouldn’t leave her husband because she loved him, and told her son he should take care of her anyway. Chauncey built a log house for her and paid the midwife for the delivery of her last child, which was named Charlotte Julia and called "Lottie" for short. She was born in Springville, Utah on April 3, 1867.

Chauncey looked after his mother for a number of years after his return home and helped the family a great deal. He freighted, and even after he was married, he continued to give to the support of his mother and family, and often times he had some of his younger half-brothers and sisters stay with him at his home.

Chauncey worked for Dupont and was with him on many trips. He freighted into Pioche, Lincoln County, Nevada, and logged into Ely, in White Pine County, Nevada. On one occasion, while they were getting supplies, one of the freighters asked Chauncey why he didn’t get him a pipe and some tobacco, and then enjoy himself like the rest of the men. Chauncey bought a pipe and some tobacco, and then they made camp the first night, the man took out his pipe and lit it up, then he told Chauncey to do likewise. Chauncey lit his pipe and sat down in the sagebrush and smoked for a while. It began to make him sick. He was never so sick in his life before. He left the pipe and tobacco lying right there when they moved the next morning. When they stopped there on their return trip, the man asked Chauncey if he was going to get his pipe and Chauncey told him no. Then the man asked if he could have it, so Chauncey gave it to him.

Chauncey freighted in to Ely and Pioche, Nevada, with two other men. On one occasion as they were traveling with their two wagons, one of the men asked Chauncey if he had seen three men on a hill nearby. The man said they looked like highwaymen, and sure enough they were. They didn’t have guns to protect themselves, so they were robbed. Chauncey had been carrying $500.00 inside his clothes strapped to his leg, and it made his leg sore. His partner by the name of Spencer said for him to put his money in the box in the wagon where Spencer had been keeping his. After the robbers left, Spencer said he believed that the thieves got his money, but he made a bargain with Chauncey that [whoever’s] money was left. They would divide it between them. Chauncey’s money was gone and Spencer’s was still there so Spencer had to divide it with Chauncey. It bothered Spencer all his life, and he never quit trying to get his money back from Chauncey.

Chauncey freighted with Moroni Miner (called "Rone") a half-brother to Clarissa Curtis. On one trip with Rone, Chauncey and Rone met a man from Utah whom they knew. They offered to shake hands with him because they were so glad to see someone from Utah. The man told Chauncey he had never seen them before in his life and treated them like they were strangers. Chauncey was very angry and Rone Miner that as soon as they made camp that night he was going to take his bullwhip and give the fellow a whipping with it. He claimed the fellow was just trying to keep it from being known that he was another Mormon from Utah. Rone told Chauncey that he was afraid the other men might gang up on them if Chauncey took his bullwhip to the other man, but Chauncey said he didn’t so. When they made camp, Chauncey took his bullwhip and gave the other man a whipping. Then he told the other men why he gave the whipping.

Whenever the Freighters made camp for the night, all that was needed to start a fight was for someone to yell "hurrah for Abe Lincoln", and then someone to yell "Hurrah for Jeff Davis" and a fight would be on. The reason for this was because there were so many freighters from both the north and the south.

On one occasion when Chauncey was freighting supplies from the east to the mines, he had tea, which was very expensive. He told a woman she could have all she could hold in her mouth for a dollar.

Chauncey freighted ore from Mercer and Ophir, Utah in Rush Valley. A toll road was used to haul to Stockton on the railroad, or it was taken north to the lake point where it was sent by boat to Corinne on the railroad. Ophir was one of the early wild mining towns of the west and was up Ophir Canyon in Tooele County, Utah.

While Chauncey was freighting with Moroni Miner, he met Moroni’s half-sister, Clarissa Curtis, and they fell in love with each other. When they went to get married, they traveled by wagon and team from Springville, Utah to the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, Utah. When they went they took Chauncey’s mother, Olive Amanda Smith Fullmer and Clarissa Curtis’ mother, Tamma Durfee Miner Curtis. When they arrived in Salt Lake City, they pulled up to the watering trough in front of the old tithing office and a man came out and asked Chauncey what was he loaded with. Chauncey was a man who was always full of fun, so he yelled and said he was loaded with women. It was the custom to go to the tithing office first to report or turn over their loaded wagon for tithing. They were married in the Endowment House February 15, 1869.

During their married life, Chauncey moved his family around from place to place and worked at different occupations. He did some carpenter work on a log cabin for Mary M Jane Babcock in the town of Spring Glen, Utah, in the year 1892.

 The first of their family was born on August 23, 1871, in Springville, Utah and died the same day. The child was a son whom they named Joseph Alma. The second baby was a daughter named Emma, born Aug 16 1872, in Springville, Utah. The third, was a son named Chauncey Harvey Cook, jr. born December 5, 1874, in Provo, Utah. He married Hannah Elsie Sonberg on November 13, 1900 and died in Lehi, Utah on December 20, 1944. The fourth baby, a daughter named Amelia, was born in Springville, Utah on May 11, 1877 and died the same day. The fifth, a son named Ray Curtis, was born on August 27, 1878; and married Lydia Jane Babcock, on December 24, 1899. The sixth, a son named Leroy Austin, was born august 24, 1881 in Aurora, Utah and married Mary Louise Bennett on April 16, 1909. The seventh, a son named Marion Enox, was born on March 14, 1884, in Cainesville, Utah, and married Effie May Lisonbee on February 19, 1906. He died September 19, 1916. The eighth, a daughter named Bertha, was born March 9, 1886 in Cainesville, Utah and married Charles Bernum Lewis, November 14, 1906 and died August 19, 1924. The ninth, another daughter named Dora was born March 26, 1888, in Cainesville, Utah, and married William Clark Scott on December 1, 1909. The tenth, a daughter named Laura D. was born December 11, 1889 near the town of Black on the Green River (now called Green, Utah). She married Hyrum Hansen. She married Hyrum Hansen [on] April 6 1908. The eleventh, a son named Junious F., was born July 18, 1893 in Spring Glen, Utah and married Vida Louise Hardman on September 20, 1911.

Chauncey moved his family from Springville, Utah to Gunnison, Utah, living in Cunnison Ward. While living there, on May 14, 1880, their daughter, Emma, just three months less than eight years of age, died, and was buried in the Gunnison Cemetery. Just before she passed away, she told her mother to take care of little Ray, who was only two years old. After the death of their daughter, Chauncey and his wife, Clarissa, were both re-baptized, on June 1, 1880, and re-confirmed the same day. They also had their sons, Chauncey Harvey, Jr. and Ray Curtis, and LeRoy blessed in the Gunnison Ward.

According to the Gunnison Ward records, they moved their family from Gunnison to Aurora, Sevier County, Utah. While there, Chauncey worked as a contractor, making grade for the railroad, until they moved to Cainesville, Utah. On their move to Cainesville, they had to drive through a deep wash to get to the Dirty River. The wash was very bad for sudden storms and they hurried as fast as they could get through it before a storm came up. About ten families lived in Cainesville, Utah, at that time. Chauncey helped build the canal for irrigating the farms and the raised sugar cane and made sorghum. He also went into the hills in Rabbit Valley and logged during the winter months. On these logging trips he always gave away one or two barrels of molasses to people he called his friends. While in Cainesville, They took a trip up the Dirty Devil River to visit some friends and got caught in a flood that nearly drowned them. They were very fortunate to get out of it alive with only the loss of their wagons.

While in Cainesville, they lived in a large log house and Sunday school was held in their large front room. At one time, Chauncey left the front room of the house just before they were ready to administer the sacrament. When he returned, he found they were going to kneel down and bless the sacrament just the same as they blessed the food, because they didn’t know the words to the sacrament. Chauncey stopped them and got a book off the shelf with the sacrament written in it and gave it to them. He really gave them a talking to for their neglect in the proper way of doing things. Chauncey was a big man with a stern way about him, and people listened to him when others couldn’t get a hearing. Later when they were living in Pleasant Grove, Utah, Bishop Swen L. Swenson had this to say about Chauncey: "He liked to have Chauncey to (wxk wihh) him on visits to the homes because he was very good at explaining it in a way that people understood. He was also a powerful man and on one occasion on his return from Canada in 1910 he demonstrated his power on a machine in Salt Lake that registered very high. He knew how to handle himself in a rough and tumble fight. He served as postmaster in Cainesville, Utah.

In the fall of 1888, he moved his family to the San Rafell River, close to the famous old outlaw hideout known as "Robbers Roost." They wintered and had to feed their cattle on cottonwood trees because they didn’t have feed for them. In the spring, they moved to Green River near the city of Blake, Utah.

Blake was a thriving town (railroad town) of several thousand people, with a division of the D. & R. G. W. Railroad, a hotel and a store. Chauncey settled his family on an eighty-acre farm about five miles up river from Blake (now called Green River). In the fall, they built a log cabin on the east side of the river. In the spring of 1890, they sold the farm for $50.00 in food and moved to Wellington, Utah, where they stayed a short time, then moved to Coal Creek, where he cut cedar posts that summer. That fall of 1890, they moved into Spring Glen, Utah.

In Spring Glen, Utah, Chauncey entered into politics and [ran] for Justice of the Peace. He was also on the school board. He performed the marriage of his son, Ray, and marriages for several other people while serving as Justice of the Peace. He also served in the Spring Glen bishopric as counselor and was a farmer.

His sons, Harvey, Ray and LeRoy went to Canada to live and he took a trip there on 1907 to look the country over but decided to stay in Utah. He sold his farm in Spring Glen and moved to Provo, Utah. There he drove the sprinkler wagon and wet down the streets.

In 1910, Chauncey and his sons, Ray and LeRoy bought a farm in Pleasant Grove, Utah. While living there, Chauncey served in the Ward Genealogical Committee and did Temple work. At this time, his heart had softened towards his step-father, and as soon as he told his son Ray he found out after he began to rear a family of his own, what a job his step-father had in rearing his family. He told his son, Ray, that he decided to go to the temple and be sealed to his stepfather and his mother. He went to the Salt Lake Temple and on January 25, 1911 was sealed to his mother and his stepfather.

Chauncey had very little schooling in his early life; however, his wife, Clarissa, having been a schoolteacher, taught him. His wife was a very quiet woman and never believed in telling "off-color" stories. She used to get after Chauncey for singing and telling "smutty" stories. His wife never did much singing, except to her children. One time Chauncey made fun of her singing, so she never sang any more. Chauncey had a good voice, and sang a lot of the time. His wife was a thrifty person and knew how to take care of money. Her son, Ray, said that she had wavy hair and was an attractive woman. His wife Clarissa died at their home in Pleasant Grove, Utah March 31, 1915, and was buried in the Pleasant Grove Cemetery on April 1, 1915.

After the death of his wife, Chauncey lived in part of the house and his son, Ray moved his family into the big two-story house that was occupied by Chauncey. They continued to run the Farm; however, Chauncey left his two sons to run the farm while he spent some time visiting friends and relatives.

One day Chauncey decided that he wanted a car. He went to Hyrum Hansen, who owed him money on the home he had sold in Provo, got the money and bought a ford Car about a 1916 model. One day as he was driving it into the garage, he yelled "Woa!" to the car, but it didn’t stop and went through the garage wall so he got rid of it.

In 1921,Chauncey and his sons sold the farm to Bert Adams, and he got $1500.00 for his share. Ray and LeRoy moved their families to West Jordan, Utah on the Kirkham’s Ranch and took their father with them. Soon after arriving in West Jordan, Chauncey married a woman named Dora Harlson. After he was married, Chauncey asked his sons Ray and LeRoy for work on the ranch so they gave him a job cutting hay, but the team ran away with him and broke the mowing machine to pieces. Chauncey and his wife didn’t seem to get along very well. So they separated and Chauncey came back to live with his sons on the ranch. His son, Ray, moved a small building that used to house a water pump and made home for his father. Chauncey was given some Chickens and Turkeys to raise. As time went on, Chauncey didn’t like living alone as he got cold a night, so his son, Ray, slept with him, to keep him warm, then his grandson, Berl, had a turn sleeping with him, but he didn’t like his grandson to sleep with him because the grandson moved and squirmed a lot at night. Finally, Chauncey decided to write a letter to his daughter, Bertha and see if could go live with her. She wrote and told him to come, so he moved to Genola, Utah. After a few short months living at his daughter’s place in Genola, Utah, he died on June 27, 1923. The doctor that attended Chauncey just prior to his death wrote the cause of death paralysis of the larynx – with inability to swallow food or water.- cause undetermined. Date of death was given as June 27, 1923 at 11:00 p.m. The doctor that attended him was named A.G. Curtis and the undertaker was John F. Harris and Co. with address at Payson, Utah.

The doctors were afraid to operate because of age. He died at the age of 79 years, 7 months. He had become so thin from his inability to eat that he was as thin as a picture taken when he was 36 years of age, although he had gained considerable weight until his sickness.

Information from this history was taken from the following sources:

• Memory of Ray Curtis Cook
• Memory of Berl B. Cook
• Memory of Lydie Jan Babcock Cook
• Death certificate of Chauncey Harvey Cook
• Family group sheet of Chauncey Harvey Cook, 1^st
• History or life sketch of Chauncey Harvey Cook, 1^st and Clarissa Curtis by Mary Louise Bennett Cook
• Cemetery Records of Pleasant Grove, Utah
• Bible record of Chunky Harvey Cook, 1^st family kept by his wife, Clarissa Curtis Cook
• Newspaper clipping from the Tribune account of the ghost mining town of Ophir, Utah
• Gunnison Ward records
• Springville Ward records
• Early church information file
• Temple records of Salt Lake Temple
• Micro-film of sealings in Salt Lake Temple
• Vital statistics of Utah
• Temple records of Endowment Bureau
• Deceased Members file kept in library of Church Historian
• Letter from Bishop Rowley of Spring Glen, Utah
• Family group sheets of following families:
• Chauncey Harvey Cook 2^nd
• LeRoy Austin Cook
• Marion Enos Cook
• Charles Barnum
• William Clark Scott
• Hyrum Hansen
• Junius F. Cook
• Spring Glen cemetery Grave stones
• Pleasant Grove newspaper account of funeral of Clarissa Curtis Cook
• Family Group sheet of Olive Amanda Smith and John S. Fullmer
• Sealing of children to parents in Salt Lake Temple
• Journal history of John Solomon Fullmer
• Research of Iona Belke, Fullmer family historian

Special Notes;

Every effort was made to type this edition exactly as it was originally typed. Only where the mistake was an obvious error was the text altered. In some cases, a word or letter was added by myself to help the reading flow. These are in [brackets] to show them plainly. I have also added footnotes to help explain or give references not included in original text.

This was an effort of love and also of gratitude. I am grateful to those that had painstakingly taken the time to put these histories to paper so that we might share them together. In these narratives our ancestors are no longer just names and dates on a tree, but living people with families who they helped, sometimes disliked, friends that shared stories and adventures. They all had real lives: careers, hobbies, pets, and often strange personality quirks.

Each of us carries a part of these extraordinary people inside of us. Years from now, when I am gone, I hope my children’s children will remember me and try to imagine what our lives are like and thank us for giving them a glimpse.

Christopher E. Putman

Friday, January 07, 2000